Series 3 with original 250 internal+external 1 gig to new 2 gig internal?

I have a Series 3 (TCD648250B) lifetime with the original 250 GB internal HD plus an external 1 GB HD. Current firmware.

Is it possible to make a new internal 2 GB HD and retain everything (programs, season's passes, cablecard info) using MFSLive or WINMfs or some other tool?

I've read everything on Spike's forum, all the FAQs and help files, and there is conflicting info on whether this is possible or not.

Any input appreciated, as well as (if it's possible to do what I need) whether the Western Digital WD AV-GP WD20EURS, currently on sale at the Egg for $90, will work. Seems to me I remember something in the dim distant past about WD Green drives not beeing able to boot on S3 Tivos.

MFSlive and WinMFS can NOT do it on an S3, the reason you see the option to try is because you could merge a pair in the S1 and S2 days.

As Teeps said, folks like DVR_Dude are able to do it, but there are not any end user tools available to merge drives on an S3 series unit.

As an alternative, is it possible using WinMFS or MFSLive to take the original 250G and external 1TB drives, and copy everything onto a pair of new 1TB drives, and use the 'expand' function (or -x switch) to have use of the new added space?

As an alternative, is it possible using WinMFS or MFSLive to take the original 250G and external 1TB drives, and copy everything onto a pair of new 1TB drives, and use the 'expand' function (or -x switch) to have use of the new added space?

me? I'd just offload to a PC then put it back after I installed the single 2TB in the S3, that's by far the best solution. (and what I did earlier this year)

__________________"There is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out."

Trying to copy an original 250G+1TB external to a pair of 1TB drives. Series 3. I don't necessarily want the extra space (It would be nice, though), I just want fresh drives.

WinMfs would not do it, allowed drive selection for source/target, but threw out "Error 1 - Unknown Error" when I tried to execute.

MFSlive found the drives, accepted the command line from the MFSlive help page, and almost ten hours later spewed out pages of error messages and then ran out of memory. The resultant drives did not work.

That was an annoying waste of time, because the help page for BOTH those utilities was very clear that this was a supported feature.

I suppose I'll just use dd to make a clone of each drive.

And I just noticed that the power supply capacitors are bulging, so I'll probably replace those as well.

I did send a note to DVR_DUDE on ebay to ask the cost and time to get one of his 2TB internals and transfer my shows...

Are 2TB internals now natively supported on the S3? Can I just copy an older fresh image to one, then have it update to the current software? Or do I have to buy one from DVR_DUDE?

And either way, does my cablecard setup die and have to be reauthorized by TW?

With 11.0k 2TB drives can be used.
If you use an image then you'll have to do a C&DE routine, however if you were to do a truncated backup of your EXISTING setup with no recordings, you might be able to blast that on to the 2TB and keep your pairing

__________________"There is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out."

I worked my way back several dozen pages, also did a search on his name, could not find anything relevant. Thanks anyway, I think the combining into a single drive idea is doomed.

I was able to use DVRBars to make fresh copies of both drives that worked.

Now I'm going to try to do a restore of its backup to a larger drive and see if I can use WinMFS to expand it to full size.

With regard to using a 2TB drive--

My convoluted method is no longer necessary on any S3, the original OLED model, the HD or the HD XL.

Make sure your source drive is already updated to version 11.0k of the TiVo software.

Use WinMFS to mfscopy the source to the 2TB (and you have the option at that time to increase the size of the swap partition if you so choose--I consider it cheap insurance, but others don't bother and seem to get along okay).

When it finishes copying, it'll say there's extra room on your target drive and do you want to expand.

Tell it no.

Then select the 2TB drive (you previously selected the source drive), and run mfsinfo on it just to make sure everything looks okay.

You'll see a very large Apple Free partition on the end of the 2TB drive.

Close out of mfsinfo and click on mfsadd.

(or if you're super cautious, take the 2TB and try it in the TiVo first, before expanding)

It'll say something about partitions larger than 1.2TB and do you want to limit to that or not. Tell it no limit.

That should do it.

If you can't use a source drive because it had an external attached, then WinMFS should at least let you make a truncated backup image with all your settings, and you can restore that to the 2TB, telling it no on expand, checking it, and then doing the expand as a separate step with mfsadd.

My convoluted method is no longer necessary on any S3, the original OLED model, the HD or the HD XL.

...

If you can't use a source drive because it had an external attached, then WinMFS should at least let you make a truncated backup image with all your settings, and you can restore that to the 2TB, telling it no on expand, checking it, and then doing the expand as a separate step with mfsadd.

I had no problem with getting the S3 to use a 2TB drive. What I wanted to do was take my existing 250GB and 1TB external, and copy everything including recordings to a 2TB drive. That's what's not possible with existing tools.

I do have someone a lot more knowledgeable than me helping me try to do it manually, and we'll see how that goes..